50 GOLDEN YEARS: CELEBRATING NICKIE IN TURKS AND CAICOS (DAY 4!!)

Hey everyone!

We are back with another installment chronicling our October 2024 trip to Turks and Caicos to celebrate Nickie’s 50^th birthday!

And like – I know. I don’t wanna start with another apology but I know it’s been a little while since my last post. It’s just…guys, it was Christmas and it was Q4 and like stuff was super busy.

But I promise you – I am going to do everything I can to finish out this series by 2025.

Sorry.

By the end of 2025.

So yeah, Day 4 is a pretty fun day that starts with waiting hella-long for a Bloody Mary and ends with us legit celebrating Nickie.

Let’s do it!

Celebrating Nickie’s 50^th in Turks & Caicos 2024: Day 4

7AM. Day 4 began at 7AM. It was a hot, steamy morning. The beach beckoned, largely untouched save for a scant few footprints left by the early morning workers tasked with wiping down the beach chairs, burdened with towels and dreams.

My mind, fresh to the day, began to awake with the promise of a sun-drenched day that would end with either bliss or blunder. The choice was not mine to make but nature’s and whatever you might call God. At the least, I could start the day with some semblance of control by willing my own body to push beyond its self-imposed boundaries.

I got up to go to the gym. Is what I am saying to you now.

But wasn’t the first way better?

No?

OK then.

And though? I wasn’t the only one at the gym today. Myles and Owen joined me AND we met Tony down there. But those guys are way tougher than me. I did a 3-miler on the treadmill while those guys pumped iron.

I was very intimidated.

But while the time at the gym was good and all that, going to the gym here usually also means a stop at Café de Paris for a little pre-breakfast snackums.

I don’t recall what everybody got but I know I got a chocolate croissant and a caramel iced coffee.

Oh and don’t worry you guys. This isn’t breakfast. This is pre-breakfast. I’m gonna get more to eat.

I know. I know you were worried. I appreciate it.

At this point, it was around 8:45AM and I knew the others would be heading to breakfast shortly so we had to hoof it on back to the room so we all could shower and get over to breakfast.

And not to like toot my own horn, but I was on my way to breakfast by like 9:20. Walking on by this whole scene being like, look at me. I get ready quickly. I am a true hero.

It didn’t hurt that the boys let me shower first since they had to wait for Hannah to get up and ready anyway.

OK fine. They were the true heroes.

But I was the true sidekick.

So.

Breakfast today was at Sky, which is such a pretty spot. Located on the roof of the Bayside restaurant, this place has all kinds of great views.

As you might be able to see in that picture above, most of the rest of the “We love Nickie” crew was already there but Nickie saved a seat next to her for me. And I got to sit across from Sophia.

Now.

I sat down at around 9:30. And as soon as I sat down, the waitress came over to start taking orders for the table. I asked if I could get a Bloody Mary and she informed me she was not taking beverage orders, only food right now on account of she had already taken beverage orders at the table?

Erm.

So, like, I put in my food order and waited for her to return to take my beverage order. She did eventually come over and take it. And look, here is my Bloody and Nickie’s Mimosa.

That picture was taken at 10AM. So yeah, I didn’t have a drink until a half hour after I sat down. I don’t wanna sound like all complain-y or whatever, but that’s kind of insane, no? Just don’t show up to Sky thirsty. Is all I’m saying.

The food arrived about 15 minutes later.

It was a leisurely breakfast. Is what I am saying to you now.

Thank goodness I ordered two entrees.

I got the Pancakes. Which, like don’t look like the pancakes being described on the current Sky menu.

And the Key West Egg Tostada (Corn tortilla, charred tomato salsa, avocado puree, fried egg, candied jalapeños).

The pancakes were fine, but the star was that tostada. That was good good stuff you guys. Candied jalapenos you guys. Candied jalapenos.

The plan after breakfast was to hang at the pool for a bit before lunch. Which was coming up quick. On account of breakfast took a real long time.

So Nickie and I grabbed the floats we brought down to the dive shop to have them blown up. Here’s Nickie’s. Sort of a bougie nautical theme.

And here’s mine.

Sort of a robot from a dystopian future theme.

Yeah. It was WALL-E.

We met up with everyone back at the French Village pool which, again, is the best pool. First things first, I grabbed a Tito’s and soda at the pool bar.

And yeah. Commence the “hanging at the pool with some of the best people ever” barrage of pictures.

Wait wait wait. Before we get to that, the proper soundtrack.

The song playing while Cher is taking pictures of her friends in Clueless.

OK. Now. Commence.

I mean, right? Don’t even try and pretend you don’t want to hang out with us. That literally looks like a beer commercial.

We know how to have fun. That’s fo sho.

All that being awesome worked up quite an appetite. So thankfully, the Mr. Mac Mac and Cheese Truck was right…

…

Huh? Oh yeah. There’s a mac and cheese truck. This place is truly a paradise.

Really, it was mainly Tony, I, and the boys hitting up the truck while everyone else was heading to the Jerk Truck.

Which I think was the place George was referring to?

Store, truck. Tomato, tomato.

But no worries. We also will be jerks. In that we also will be visiting the Jerk Truck today. The mac and cheese is just for the journey. It was like a 5-7 minute walk you guys.

We put in our orders and then grabbed a table in the back to await the wonders that were coming.

And oh.

Oh.

OH!!

What wonders they were. Look at this buffalo mac and cheese! LOOK AT IT!!!

So good.

So.

Good.

To be fair, there are a lot of really great options here but this is definitely my favorite of the bunch. And that chicken? It’s not joke, you guys. It’s a spicy situation.

We also got some mac and cheese balls because I mean. When in Rome. You get mac and cheese balls.

Look how happy Tony is. His mac and cheese face just warms my heart.

But, like I said, our eating adventure was far from over as we were also making our way over to the Jerk Truck. Which was one of our favorite places to grab something to eat back when it was the Jerk Shack over in the Caribbean Village.

How does it compare now that it’s in a truck versus a shack? Read on to find out.

…

…

It’s worse!

Oh, sorry. Were you looking for more suspense?

Let’s start with the good. This drink. Which I grabbed at the truck next door – The Dive. Which I think was a Painkiller. Fruit juice. Rum. It was good.

The food though. It was. Eh. And I should know. On account of I ordered literally the entire menu – Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, Jerk Fish, Sausage, Corn, Festival. Yeah, I went off. In fact, you might say I “jerked o…” No wait. Sorry. Never mind.

But literally everything was intensely dry. I remember really loving the fish last time we visited the Jerk Shack but everything here was pretty disappointing. The sausage was ok. Everything else though. Paled in comparison to that mac and cheese we just had, that’s for sure.

Ah well you win some, you lose some. Right? Pfft, jerks.

A good chunk of our group were already down at the beach, so Tony, Owen, Myles, Hannah, and I walked on down to meet them. Well, first this cat.

But soon enough, we were all on the beach. And then soon enough? We were all in the water.

The sea was angry that day, my friends.

So much Costanza today.

And those made for some pretty cray waves.

Crazy for Grace Bay, at least. But it was actually really fun. I ended up taking Scarlett out on the WALL-E float and riding the waves with her, which she enjoyed. Until she was terrified.

It’s such a thin line.

At around 2:30, we all decided to make our ways back to our respective rooms to rest and get ready for the night. Which was a big one.

Nickie and I made straight for the balcony.

And the beer.

But eventually we had to leave the balcony and start getting ready, along with the kids. At 4:30, it was time to find our way down to the beach once again to meet up with the rest of the crew. On account of we were getting our pictures taken tonight before dinner.

Beaches offers photography services for free.

Well, yes. Technically the services are free.

Second mortgages have been taken out to get the actual photos themselves.

Eh, whatever. College is overrated. Right, kids?

Also I should mention – tonight we were actually officially having Nickie’s birthday dinner and her theme for this trip was white and gold so we all wore white…and some gold. I have a good mx of both amateur and professional pictures. Let’s start with the pics on my camera….

Annnnd now the professional pictures.

We are a real photogenic bunch. That’s for sure.

We finished with our picture at around 5PM-ish but our reservation wasn’t for a little bit so we all headed over to The Cricketeer’s for some pre-dinner cocktails.

Soph and Scar bellied right up to the bar.

I meanwhile had to run to the Caribbean lobby to get Nickie’s birthday cake! I had ordered it from The Cake Lady, based on reviews from other Turks & Caicos visitors. I reached out to her a couple months back via Facebook Messenger and she was SUPER responsive the entire time.

She let me know when she was close and we met up in the lobby. Super easy. Once I got the cake, I gave it to the front desk and let them know where we were eating that night and they handled the rest.

Did the cake live up to the amazing service we received? You’ll have to read on to find out…

After all that was handled, I made my way back to Cricketer’s to meet up with everyone again. And yeah, it was hot you guys. By the time I got back there, I was all…

 

So I walked on through to the bathrooms behind Mario’s, the restaurant kind of attached to Cricketer’s. and guys – PRO TIP – the bathrooms behind Mario’s are like this little hidden oasis. Not only are these the most themed restrooms at Beaches, but the air conditioning is cranking like cray cray in there.

So yeah. I dunno. If you can, schedule some time to just sort of creepily hang out in the Mario’s restrooms. You won’t may regret it!

When I got back into the bar, we had trouble.

Trouble with a capital ‘T”

And that rhymes with “P”

And that stands for pool!

The kids were playing pool. Is what I am saying to you now.

But at around 6:30, we figured it was time to head to dinner. Nickie’s birthday dinner was at Schooner’s, located in the Caribbean Village!

We walked over, checked in at the front, and the girl up front let us know it would be a few minutes. Again, we had a group of like 16 people so we had called ahead to ensure we could get a table. I assume the wait would have been much longer for a group that size if we just walked up.

Just setting expectations over here. NBD.

While we were waiting, we asked the hostess if she wouldn’t mind getting a picture of our group. And like, I mean. Picture of the trip I think.

Sophia posing like a pro.

Oh and while we were waiting, the parade went by. Obvs a sign tonight was gonna be all kinds of amaze.

Let’s go celebrate Nickie you guys.

And what better way to celebrate Nickie than with a martini, right?

Also, what better way to celebrate anything than with a martini?

I like martinis is what I am saying to you now.

After we all had our drinks in hand, I stood up to give a toast to Nickie. I don’t have video or pictures of this on account of I was up giving the toast, but it’s probably for the best. You see, I had a whole toast written out on a piece of paper on account of I am an old person. And it was in my pocket as I was going to do the whole cake handoff thing. But somewhere along the way, it must have fallen out.

So I was completely winging it.

I can give you the gist though.

Essentially, Nickie is like the best person I know and the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She has brought so much joy and magic into my life, building this incredible family with me and going on so many amazing adventures. I am so grateful for her and for the life we have built together. Oh also, happy birthday and I love you!

It was basically that but said with way more words.

Now onto the foodz.

To start, I ordered the Pan-Seared Scallops.

Which were yumtown, population me.

Also? I ended up opting for a beer once my martini mysteriously disappeared.

Both Nickie and I ordered the same entrée – the Chicken and Mushroom Alfredo (with Linguine and Shaved Asiago).

Which was SO. GOOD.

I know. It sounds pretty plainsauce but this is a pretty stellar dish at Schooner’s. Both my app and entrée were all kinds of good tonight.

Five stars recommend.

OK, time for the cake!

Our server brought it out and we all sang to Nickie, obvs squad. And I mean. Look. At. This. Cake.

So pretty. And so HUGE.

The cake inside was a white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and it was incredible stuff. I really wish I took a picture of the inside or of a slice because seriously…this thing was so big.

That’s what she said.

But yeah, what a great night celebrating a great person. Seriously, Nickie is the best you guys. If you’re not friends with her, you are totally missing out.

After dinner, we kept the celebration going as a bunch of us went back over to The Cricketer’s for karaoke.

And by the time we got there, Scott had already ordered some wings, cottage pie AND shepherd’s pie.

Yeah, both the pies.

Karaoke started at around 9PM I think. And pretty much right when the sign-up sheet was put out, both Myles and I put our names in. And yeah, Myles kind of brought the house down. He sang both “If I Can Dream” by Elvis and “My Way” by Frank Sinatra.

Like literally, Steph heard people talking about his rendition of “My Way” the next day. Kid killed it.

I also sang.

…

That’s all I have to say about that. Myles was the star that night for sure.

And yeah. That was kind of it for Day 4. Kind of an awesome day from beginning to end. And like, the celebrations for Nickie aren’t exactly over. Day 5 is pretty epic you guys. I can’t wait to write a-boat it.

See you all then!

Last post – Day 3!

Next post – Day 5!